Psychotherapy Sessions

Talking to a professional about your emotional health is referred to as many different names such as therapy, talking therapies, therapy sessions, psychotherapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, counselling, psychological therapy and many more. Each ‘talking therapy’ has a slightly different approach but they all want to achieve the same goal, which is giving you that protected time to focus on yourself, talk about how you’re feeling without the pressure of feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and guilty. It can help to explore thought patterns, identify patterns of behaviour that might be having an impact on your mental health, gain insight into your emotions and find coping strategies that work for you, without feeling judged. Sharing your thoughts and concerns with someone who understands emotional wellbeing and the difficulties it can bring, can help to reduce a sense of isolation. 

 We utilise a blend of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and trauma-informed approaches to provide comprehensive care tailored to your specific needs. CBT helps you identify and challenge negative thought patterns, while DBT focuses on building emotional regulation and mindfulness skills. Our trauma-informed methods ensure a safe and supportive environment, acknowledging the impact of past trauma and prioritizing your emotional well-being throughout the therapeutic process. By integrating these approaches, we aim to offer a personalized and effective treatment plan that promotes lasting healing and growth. 

 Yes, psychotherapy can be very helpful for neurodivergent individuals. Our approach is tailored to your unique experiences and needs, incorporating techniques like CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed care that respect and support neurodiversity. Therapy can provide tools for managing challenges, enhancing strengths, and improving overall well-being in a way that aligns with your neurodivergent identity

The initial session with one of our practitioners will last around 90 minutes, subsequent sessions will last for 50-60 mins.  This is because during the first session the practitioner will take the time to really understand what it is that you would like support with and together we will come up with a personalised plan of support to best suit you.  This could be signposting and resources and/or a plan consisting of short and long term goals. If we think there are options out there where you can access support that might be helpful, that is free of charge in your area, we will always discuss this with you. If we think Sapphire Minds can help, then we can discuss a plan of what we think would help and what this would look like, and you're never pressured to go ahead with the suggestions.

It is your choice as to whether you would like a one-off appointment or a series of sessions. We call a one-off session: single session therapy. This is helpful for support around a specific matter. If you would like more sessions we are able to to go further in depth and work with both short and longer term goals. It is something that we would discuss and agree in our first session.

Of course. We would recommend booking no more than 6 sessions at a time with the option to review after the 3rd and 5th session as to whether more sessions would be beneficial, whether a short break from sessions to put into practice what you have been working on during those sessions to then return after an agreed amount of time, or whether you feel 6 sessions is enough. 

We want to try our best to make our mental health and wellbeing support as affordable as possible, so at this time we have chosen to offer these services via video call only. We are hoping to be able to provide affordable face to face sessions in the near future. 

Our sessions are £35 per session or a block of 6 sessions for £190.

This is much cheaper than other services out there that you might have researched, and there are a number of reasons for this. Neither Hollie or Lois are trained counsellors or have an accreditation for a specific therapy such as CBT or DBT. The practitioners are experienced Mental Health Practitioners (Hollie is a Mental Health Nurse with a degree from Bangor University, and Lois is a Social Worker with a degree from Wrexham University), and both have worked in various settings over the years, with adults and children. Sapphire Minds don't offer counselling, CBT, or DBT, but CBT and DBT approaches are used during sessions to help you understand why you might be feeling the way you are, why you do some of the things you do, and suggested skills might be used in CBT or DBT therapy, as these can be helpful for everyone. The Sapphire Minds practitioners have basic training in CBT & DBT and a diploma in Trauma Informed approaches, so the skills and information that might be discussed in sessions is very familiar to the practitioners. Another reason for wanting to keep the cost as low as possible is because both Hollie and Lois are passionate about mental health and neurodivergence, specifically how they interlink and impact one another, and they want to try and make support like this available, at the lowest cost they can.

Please see below to download a copy of our self referral form and our confidentiality agreement.  Feel free to contact us if you would like to have a chat about the sessions prior to referral.